Thermometer attachment



Dec. 6, 1927.

S. L. WALKER THERMOMETER ATTACHMENT Filed Dec. 24. 1926 g mz I Patented Dec. 6, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATEINTLOFFICE.

MEL L. WALKER, OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA; CYNTHIA ST. CLAIR WALKER EZECUTBIZ SAID SAMUEL L. WALKER, DECEASED.

TEERMOMETEB ATTACHMENT.

Application filed December 24, 1926. Serial No. 156,915.

This invention relates to thermometers, and more particularly to clinical thermom-' 'eters.

It is a common practice with users of clinical thermometers, in order to cause the mercury to settle down or recede to normal, after taking the temperature of a patient, to tap the instrument against the palm of the hand or give it a nick movement as if to 'throw it while hol ing it by grasping one end, and a as a result of such methods it frequently happens that the thermometer is broken by tapping the bulb against the hand in a sidewise osition, or by a sudden thrust with such orce as to release the grasp of the user and throw the instrument against a solid wall or on the floor;

The ob'ect of my invention is to provide sim 1e, e cient and inexpensive means for easi and quickly causing the mercur to settle down or recede to normal, wit out liability of breaking the instrument by subjecting it to the aforesaid methods of using such easily broken devices.

The invention will. first be hereinafter more particularly described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of thedescription.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, I have shown an ordinar thermometer housed within a case or en'c osure from which it may be easily removed for use in takin the temperature of a patient; said case aving means associated therewith for imparting to the thermometer within the case a whirling movement by which the mercury may be caused to settle down or recede to normal.

The thermometer, denoted by the letter. A, may-be of any suitable construction adapted to be housed within a suitable case having a detachable cap to permit the thermometer to be easily removed and replaced at will. In the form shown the case consists of a main portion B, oi tubular form and of a length a little less than the length of the thermometer inserted therein and hav- 60' ing a threaded end portion 6 on which is screwed a cap C, to which is secured one end of a chain or cord D, by which the case with the thermometer. housed therein ma be gently whirled around in a circular path until the chain or cord is wrapped. one or more times around the finger; said chain or cord being preferably of such len th that the free end thereof may be wrappe around the forefinger and gras ed between said finger and the thumb an so held that as the thermometer is whirled around it may move in a path describing successively circles which gradually decrease in diameter toward the end of the movement, so as to avoid the danger of. breakage incident to whirl- 05 ing the thermometer around in a circle concentric with the point at which the free end of the chain is held and suddenly stopping the whirling movement. The chain or cord may also serve as a safety device for fastening the thermometer to the garment of the wearer and thus revent droppin or losing the same. .The 0 sin is also pre erably attached to the cap of the thermometer case by a swivel connection as at a so as to prevent twisting the chain by rotation of the case during the whirling movement. By making the case or enclosure separable from and independent of the thermometer, no

special construction of either .the case or an t e thermometer is required, and the thermometer may be of any ordinary construc-' tion adapted to be enclosed within the case, and the construction of the latter 'is very simple and the invention can be utilized as with very little additional expense as compared with cases ordinarily used to enclose thermometers of the type to which my invention is applied. This 'simple and inexpensive device will be found very convenient for use by invalids or other persons having occasion to use a clinical thermometer, especially persons affected with diseases requiring frequent use of a thermometer for ascertaining the tem- 05 perature of the erson afi'ected.

Having thus ascribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A device of the character described comprising in combination a thermometer-em closing caslng adapted to contain a thermometer for the purpose of whirling the motion; said casing having a swiveled connectlon at one end wlth sold means, here by said caslng is not rotated on its axis during the winding of the entire length of the flexible means on the finger.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

SAMUEL L. WALKER. 

